While Chinese copycats usually make more headlines, its important to remember that there are some amazing talents in China creating equally amazing work. A 19-year-old teenager, who goes by the name of Peakji, has already developed lots of excellent software, most notably Mammoth 4, an impressive mobile browser which won the top award at Macworld Asia. As it was made by a senior school student, Mammoth 4 has a very distinctive design and user’s experience. The interface of Mammoth 4 is so concise that you can only see a slide bar ...
Archive | Creative
RSS feed for this section
![India To Launch its $35 Tablet on October 5th [REPORT]](http://www.penn-olson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/35-dollar-tablet-250x250.png)
![A Map of China’s Digital Landscape [INFOGRAPHIC]](http://www.penn-olson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/dbmdigitalchinaworlden-110919000233-phpapp01-250x250.png)
Oct 12 2011
1
532
Alphatown, China’s Hippest Virtual City and Social Game
Alphatown is a social network and virtual community created in real-time by its users. It was developed by Douban - now China’s fifth largest SNS - and launched on September 1. It’s now in public beta, and represents an innovative attempt to go both beyond conventional social networks, and to monetize Douban with its own virtual currency. When you login to Alphatown, the interface works like an online map, just like Google’s or Baidu’s. But Alphatown is not a real place. You can use the W-A-S-D or arrow keys to move ...
Oct 1 2011
10
785
It’s OK to Localize a Web Service, But it’s Not Cool to Copy the Website
…A case in point is the new Chinese social media app PengYou which is a clone of the social media dashboard-cum-diary Path. So it’s absolutely fine - and most welcome - that PengYou has made a localized kind of social media diary app that plugs into Sina Weibo, Douban, et al. In fact, I want to sign-up and try it out. But it crosses the line when it also so shamelessly copies Path’s entire website too. Compare upeng.me and path.com (pictured side-by-side in the above image) and see the exact ...
Sep 30 2011
6
906
Japan Develops Augmented Reality Breasts for the Kinect
Much has been said in the past about how weird and crazy Japan can be. But we just stumbled across an amazing Kinect hack that makes up for all of that in one fell swoop. Whenever augmented reality was first created, augmented breasts should have been the first thing on mankind’s checklist. Unfortunately most AR to date has been used to tell you that the McDonalds in front of you really is a McDonalds by proving it with an overlaid link. Thankfully for us Osaka-based Ningen Inc. has developed something big. ...
Sep 29 2011
5
544
KampungPulsa Makes Buying Phone Credits Easy, Plans to Sell Over Social Media
In Indonesia, where everybody is well connected via mobile phones, most telcos try to give the best deals to provide cheap calls and messaging. In an effort to help people buy phone credits more easily, now KampungPulsa.com provides instant access to get them. By logging in as member of KampungPulsa, anyone can buy phone credits from any phone operator at anytime, and for a price slightly cheaper than credit agents. The website is useful for anyone who needs emergency phone credits -- for example, in the middle of the night where ...
Sep 29 2011
9
558
India To Launch its $35 Tablet on October 5th [REPORT]
Speaking at an awards ceremony for Technology in Education, Kapil Sibal, the communications and information technology minister, announced that the long-anticipated $35 dollar tablet computer would launch sometime in October. The Times of India cites ministry officials as specifying an October 5th launch date. I’m still a little skeptical because of earlier media reports back in June about an impending launch for the tablet, so at this point I’ll really believe it when I see it. But Mr. Sibal this time assured that in October “the doubting Toms finally realize that ...
Sep 28 2011
7
1130
China Unicom’s SIM Sticker Gives You Two SIMs In One
Competition between China’s top two mobile telcos, China Mobile and China Unicom, is ferocious. But Unicom - ever the underdog - is fighting back. Its resolution is this cunning SIM card sticker that allows users to use both networks at the same time. It is a plastic film with a chip on top, which you can stick to your original SIM card and have them both work: voice with the original, and 3G with the SIM card sticker. In this way, you don’t have to compromise between 3G and voice quality. China ...
Sep 27 2011
3
468
Make Anonymous Confessions With Ngaku.in
Sometimes people feel afraid or embarrassed to admit their feelings in public. But with Ngaku.in, now anyone can freely express their feelings anonymously. Just like the name Ngaku.in -- which in Indonesian means "confess" -- Ngaku.in provides confidential confession, so anyone can confess anything without fear or shame. Simply by registering as a member (all data will be kept confidential), the user can share anything without worrying their identity will be revealed. Their remarks will appear on this site and anyone else can make comments. Other users can even vote for ...
Sep 23 2011
4
699
Check-In, Check-Out, Ker-Ching! Jiepang Teams With YiHaoDian’s Subway Stores
Chinese location-based service Jiepang has teamed up with B2C e-commerce site YiHaoDian to promote the latter’s subway-based virtual supermarkets. The promo gives Jiepang users badges, and enables YiHaoDian discounts on their QR-powered purchases at 24 subway stops in three cities - Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. The stores are actually just specially-made YiHaoDian posters, usually wrapped around pillars or on illuminated ad boards - with lots of products, prices and QR codes printed on them. Keen online shoppers need only use the YiHaoDian iPhone or Android app to snap the QR code, ...
Sep 20 2011
2
763
A Map of China’s Digital Landscape [INFOGRAPHIC]
The Infographic of the Day series visually expresses important stories from Asia and the world of technology. Here’s another handy infographic from the folks over at Burson Marsteller. This time it focuses on China’s digital landscape, summarizing the many types of activities that netizens are engaged in, as well as the websites and services they frequent. Among some of the more noteworthy observations: Chinese users spend 32 hours per month online 41 percent of netizens’ time is spend on Weibo and SNS 23 percent of time online is spent watching video We should note that some ...
Sep 19 2011
1
520
Japan Castle Explorer: A Passion For History Shared Online
Here at Penn Olson we spend a lot of time writing about start-ups struggling to bring in revenue, or attract venture capital. But it’s important that we don’t overlook the fact that creativity doesn’t hinge on a pre-requisite business plan. It only requires that you produce. I’ve been an admirer of Daniel O’Grady’s work for a long time. He’s a great example of someone who has taken a personal passion and has channelled it into an absolutely beautiful digital creation. His Japan Castle Explorer website is an extensive catalogue of Japan’s ...
Sep 14 2011
0
392
Google Brings Search Stories To Taiwan, Wants More Taiwanese Searchers
Google Search Stories are fun to watch. Many of you would probably remember the Parisian love story video which later became a Super Bowl commercial last year. The search engine even came out with a search story creator for users to create their own Google journey. And now there’s one for Taiwan too. I stumbled upon a Google Search Stories site built especially for Taiwanese in traditional Chinese. Google Taiwan is apparently trying to get local netizens to give its video search stories a shot, in the hope that it might ...
All Japan’s Earthquakes in 2011, Visualized in One Startling Video
Feb 9, 2012
VCotton Wants to Knock Your Socks Off. And Sell You New Ones
Feb 8, 2012
Taiwan’s EZTABLE Raises $1.5 Million in Series A Round, Heads to Mainland China
Feb 9, 2012
Agate Studio Wants to Make the World Happier With Games
Feb 8, 2012
CyberAgent Ventures Invests in Vietnamese Music Service
Feb 7, 2012